More Ways Than One
by IrishLoveForever
Summary: Looking back on the situation now, I should have taken it as a sign that the first thing I noticed was the woman in the doorway, not the gun she had pointing at my head.
1. Chapter 1

**Don't own Twilight or any of its characters, Stephenie Meyer does. **

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**Edward POV**

"Geez Rosie, did you really need to bring so much shit?" Emmett growled out. I'm sure we would have been graced with the infamous death glare, by one Rosalie Hale, if we weren't bundled head to toe in winter attire. _Thank God for small favors._

Emmett was currently carrying Rosalie's and his stuff. Rosalie's things far outweighed Emmett's. Through the fallen snowflakes, I could make out Jasper's form; I could see that he was also in the same predicament, but with Alice's stuff. I would have laughed at both of them if I wasn't forced to carry some of Alice's bags as well. For someone so tiny, she sure did carry a lot of baggage.

"Well _maybe _if _someone _didn't get us lost in the middle of NOWHERE, then we wouldn't have to be carrying our stuff through the woods in the middle of a snow storm!" Rosalie countered with.

I wanted to speak up. It was my precious Volvo that was left behind, somewhere in the woods, covered by snow fall and a vast number of trees. However, I knew it was best to keep out of one of their squabbles so I just kept my mouth shut. _You live…you learn_

"We didn't get lost! The car just broke down and _someone _didn't have to come with us. We told you we would go find help and you two could have just stayed in the car."

"OH, that's an idea. Leave Alice and me in the freezing car so we could die alone in the middle of the woods."

Emmett growled out in frustration. I'm surprised he hasn't learned to just agree with her and be done with it. There was no winning with Rosalie. Silence filled the air and I thought that he finally learned his lesson. Also, I wouldn't mind some peace and quiet. It wasn't a pleasant experience walking through the woods, in the freezing mountain weather, listening to those two bicker. However, I soon learnt that he indeed did _not _learn his lesson.

"Then that brings me back to my first point. Why did you feel the need to bring so much shit?"

"Emmett McCarty! I am not going to leave my stuff unattended in the middle of the freaking woods! I brought some expensive items!"

_However, it was just fine to leave my Volvo though…_

"I thought you were worried about dying alone and now you are worried about someone coming and stealing your stuff?"

Well, I had to hand it to Emmett there; he shut Rosalie up for the first time in the three years that he had been dating her. I heard Rosalie huff. On those actions, I would have thought he wasn't getting any tonight but I didn't even know if we would find shelter tonight. We may as well freeze to death in the meantime.

I could see Jasper's body shake, probably attempting to hold in his laughter at the situation…or he's just _that _cold that he has started to convulse.

It was Alice and Jasper's idea…well, Alice's idea. She planned a big ski trip and rented a cabin. She thought it would be a great way for us to spend time together before going back to work. I wouldn't say I was too keen on going but my lovely little sister has her ways of coercing, which happened to involve badgering me for three weeks straight, every…single…day. Anyone would have caved with that kind of torture.

I was perfectly fine on staying home and catching up on work during my vacation. Alice, however, was having none of that idea. Honestly, I love my family and their significant others, but I could only stand them for an extended period of time. Yes, I got it. They were happy perfect couples, while I was completely and utterly alone. It was so obvious a blind person could see it…and yes, I do happened to be talking about Mrs. Zimmerman, the blind lady who lives in my apartment complex, who likes to point this out every time we cross paths. The conversation usually ends with her trying to set me up with her daughter, who happens to be 20 years my senior. I wasn't _that _desperate…and God help me, I hope I never am. I gave up a long time trying to find someone to be with. I didn't know if I was cursed or just had a stream of bad luck, but the only people that I seemed to end up dating was bimbos or…well, more bimbos. Just once I would like to date someone who didn't confuse Plato with a Disney cartoon character.

I completely gave up deluding myself and decided to focus on my career. That's all I needed in my life…work and to be secluded from all the happy, sappy, couples. That _was _my plan, but try telling Alice that.

What we didn't count on was the snow storm to hit early and us having to take the car on a little detour to be able to get through to the cabin. The little detour had gotten us to the middle of the woods, lost, cold and of course, our cell phones had absolutely no signal. Our plan was to walk the rest of the way to the cabin. Contrary to what Emmett wants to believe, we were indeed lost and I didn't even think we could make it back to the car if we wanted to. It was one of those times that made me regret not paying attention in boy scouts.

Emmett was storming forward with more force than before. I guessed the disagreement with Rosalie gave him a burst of energy. He was so sure of himself that he was going the right way, however I, and I'm sure everyone else in our group, knew better. Let's just say this isn't the first time we have been lost in the woods. At least those woods were behind our house and our father eventually came and found us.

Who knew how much time has passed. It could have been hours, and we were still walking through the woods, cold, and quite annoyed. I had lost feeling in my feet a while back. I knew if we didn't find shelter soon, the outcome won't look good. Hell, the way I felt, I wouldn't be opposed to finding the nearest cave to sleep in, bears be damned…

We walked further on. Alice clung to Jasper's side and Rosalie walked up to be next to Emmett, the last fight completely forgotten. I noticed I could see further on ahead than before.

_Well, at least the snow is letting up. _

"Wait, what's that up ahead?" I heard Alice stutter out as her teeth clanked together.

Emmett dropped the bags he was carrying and sprinted ahead a few yards. He hollered in triumphant while flinging his arms in the air. The scene reminded me of his high school football days. I half expected him to through down a football and do one of those ridiculous victory dances that was his known trademark.

"The cabin! See? I _told _you I knew where I was going!" Emmett ran back and grabbed the bags.

"I don't care who is right about what, right now, I need to get warm!" Rosalie followed quickly behind him.

"Don't worry Baby, we will have _plenty_ of time for that later," Emmett said, in what I was guessing his 'seductive' voice. His laughter then echoed through the wilderness.

"Ugg, Emmett, we really don't need to hear that!" Alice hollered after him.

We all but sprinted forward. In the distance I could see the outline of the cabin. I was happy that the snowfall almost had ceased. It looked like things were looking up. I knew for a fact, I would _never _go on another vacation again. Alice could just do her worst, never…never…_never_ again after this one.

We made it up to the cabin, slowing our running to a quick walk. My eyes squinted at the place. It was not the cabin Alice rented. I knew this because Alice had sent me the website with all of the information, including a photo, in one of her many attempts to persuade me to go.

"No Emmett, this isn't it," I said, gravely.

"I don't care if it is or isn't. We are going in that house!" Rosalie said.

Alice and I walked slightly forward, to get a better look in the cabin. A few lights were on and I could see smoke coming out of the chimney.

I dropped the bags onto the ground, not caring if Alice's or my clothes got ruined. "Rosalie, we can't just barge into someone's home."

"Right, imagine the types of people who would live in a cabin in the middle of the woods," Jasper stated.

Emmett laughed and said, "Yeah! Grizzly Adams, maybe? Serial killers like Jason. That guy, from the book they forced us to read in school. You know the one, he had to survive by himself after his plane crashed and he had some sort of hatchet that he used to help him survive. What was it called again?"

I sighed. "Could you happen to be talking about _Hatchet?" _

"Yes, Edward. Like I said, he had a hatchet. Oh, never mind. When we get home, I'll Google it or something.

Jasper and Alice laughed along with me. I just shook my head from side to side.

Alice piped up. "OK, I know this conversation is great and all, but it's quite chilly out, so what do you guys want to do. We can just knock and ask politely if we can stay until the storm passes, or at least to borrow a phone. Edward there is some cash in my bag; we can offer it to them for their help." Alice pointed the bag I dropped.

It wasn't a bad idea. From my experience, I learned that money was a great motivator to get anyone to do anything. No sane person was going to turn down a wad of cash.

I crouched down and unzipped the bag. I was rummaging through Alice's belongings when light was suddenly cascaded over me. I looked up toward the direction it came. I faintly heard my family's collective gasp. I didn't have time to question their reaction. As my eyes adjusted to the light that came from the open cabin door, I noticed two things. The first being a set of distinctive brown eyes that bore into my own. This penetrating gaze came from a woman standing in the doorway; light from inside her house surrounded her silhouetted form. The second thing I noticed, and probably what I should have paid attention to first, was the hunting rifle that happened to be pointing at my head, held by said woman.

_These are the reasons I don't take vacations…_

_

* * *

_

**This is the story I was originally going to write after 'You Belong to Me' was complete. But, I started the sequel instead and this has been just chilling on my computer so I figured, why not...I'll go ahead and post it. lol  
**

**Let me know what you think. Should I continue it? **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone! Thanks for reviewing and adding the story to you fav/alerts. I almost had this chapter done when I posted the first one so I figured I would just finish this one. The next chapter I post will be for Far From Over. **

**Enjoy...  
**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**Edward POV**

"Hands up," the mystery woman said.

She didn't step out from the doorway. She made no inclination that she wanted to talk. She just held the gun in place, aiming it directly at my chest.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Emmett quickly drop his bags and his hands shot up so fast, it reminded me of a cartoon character. I slowly rose from my crouched position and tentatively brought my hands over my head. _Great, I came into the week thinking it was going to be horrible and would you look at that, my body gets to play target for the next Zaroff. _I sighed. _Out of all the stories, why did I just reread The Most Dangerous Game last week?_

From the new angle, I could make out more of our maybe murderer. Her long, wavy, mahogany hair was tied back in a low ponytail. Her heart shaped face seemed frozen; there was no twitch, no movement, everything that I had ever learned on how to read people, didn't help me in this situation. The only thing she showed me in her expression was, what seemed to be, determination. It was extremely frustrating. Her full lips were pulled into a hard line. And those distinctive wide chocolate eyes that I had first noticed were almost lost from sight, due to the glare she held in place.

I wanted to laugh; I had no idea why I paid such close attention to the contours of this woman's face. It seemed like I analyzed everything in a matter of ten seconds, even though I couldn't come to any sort of conclusion. I chalked the reason up to being my job. Analyzing people was what I did; it was how I was able to read what our clients wanted and allowed me to follow through with the sale. But, for all I knew, I was just doing it because I was about to die and this was going to be the last face I ever saw. Either option seemed logical.

I glanced over to my family. Everyone seemed frozen in their spots except for Jasper. He was eyeing Alice. She and I were right in front of the door way. Jasper seemed to be itching to get over to her and place her safely behind him. I would want nothing more than that; at least the gun was pointed at me instead of her.

Jasper slowly took a step in Alice's direction. Before he could firmly plant his foot down on the ground, the woman turned her attention, which happened to also mean her gun, towards him. She raised her eyebrows, questioning him about his movements.

Alice's head whipped around and glared daggers at Jasper. "Jasper, I'm fine. Stay where you are."

The woman shifted her hunting rifle back in my direction, probably since I was the closest one to her. "Who are you and why are you on my property?"

Her gaze felt as if it was burning a hole through my head. It briefly reminded me of my favorite comic book as a child, Superman. At least her gaze didn't include heat vision. I viewed her cautiously, determined to figure a way out of this that didn't involve a bullet in any of our heads. Her voice seemed determined, but there was a hint of shakiness underneath.

I took a deep breath and swallowed. Apparently, my throat had quickly become very dry. It was no time to crack under the pressure. I wasn't one known to do that, which is how I got where I was in life. I didn't bring in the most money at my job for any old reason.

"My name is Edward Cullen. These are my siblings and friends." I motioned slightly to everyone. "We are on a vacation. While driving to the cabin we rented, we happened to get caught in the storm. Our car is stuck in the snow; we figured we were close enough to walk the rest of the way…" I gave a slight glare in Emmett's direction "...we figured wrong. We have been walking for hours and then we finally saw your house…hence us standing here."

I tried to make my voice sound pleasant and unwavering. This crazed mountain girl had to believe our story. Maybe years of seclusion have manifested antisocial, psychotic behavior in this woman. What normal person would answer a door with a gun?

Her face seemed to relax, ever so slightly. She seemed to contemplate what I said for a minute or two. The only sound I could hear was the wind picking up and that of my heart accelerating with each passing second. Her eyes turned back to a glare. Her gaze shifted from each of us, finally landing back on me. "ID?"

My eyes widened and my head went slightly forward as if I didn't hear her right. _Did she just ask for my ID? _The way she asked, was so casual, that it reminded me of my early twenties, going bar to bar, and having the bouncer causally ask to see my ID.

She noticed my disbelieving look and let out a small breath of annoyance. "Do you have any identification on you?" She spoke slowly, making sure to enunciate every last syllable, as if I were too stupid to comprehend. I just glared at her in response. _Crazed mountain girl speaking to me like I'M the one who is unhinged…_

We all simultaneously moved in an attempt to find our identifications. We looked like a bunch of flustered idiots.

"One at a time!" She half shouted.

One by one we found our IDs and tossed it toward her feet. Of course when it came to Emmett, it couldn't be _that_ easy.

"My wallet! MY WALLET!" He patted each pocket frantically searching for the location of his wallet. "I can't find my wallet…I'm about to get fucking shot!"

"It's in your inside jacket pocket!" Rosalie hissed.

He froze. "Oh." He slowly reached into his pocket and tossed it next to ours. I rolled my eyes. If anyone was going to get us shot it probably would have been Emmett.

She slowly reached down and rifled through the pile, while never shifting the weapon from the apparent bullseye on my chest.

Her left eyebrow turned into an arch. "Edward…Alice…Jasper…Are you sure you don't belong at a retirement community? With names like these, I feel like I'm looking at the Thursday night roster for bingo."

Emmett chuckled then quickly cleared his throat. "Umm, lady, is there like someone else here we can talk to? Like the man of the house?"

I almost smacked myself in the face. He _was _going to get us shot. The woman looked him incredulously while tilting her head to the side, probably thinking if he could really be _that_ idiotic. _The short answer, yes. Hell, the long answer would be yes._

"Yes…" I sighed "…he is for real."

Her eyes widened at my statement but she quickly forced her face back to a neutral expression. Jasper half turned around to look at Emmett. "Emmett, do you mind not insulting the person who has a gun?"

"What? I didn't mean that the way it came out. It's not like a lady can't do the talking, just that maybe this would work better coming from a man," Emmett said, not understanding what was wrong.

We all then turned to look at him, mouths hanging slightly open. _Maybe there is somewhere we can say we don't know him._

I always knew that if I ended up in a fight, I would have wanted Emmett fighting beside me. He was huge and could take down almost anyone. However, the thought didn't escape me that if I indeed, _ever _got into a fight, his mouth would probably be the cause of it.

I saw Rosalie smack him in the arm and yell, "I swear Emmett, if you end up getting us shot…there will be hell to pay!"

_Maybe for you, I was more hoping for the heaven side of things…_

"What? She knows what I mean!" Emmett pleaded and gave her a half pout.

"Don't you dare think you can use that pout on me now! And what in the world makes you think she knows what you mean? This hillbilly hasn't said more than two sentences and you think she can read your thoughts!"

_Correction, both Emmett AND Rosalie are going to get us killed…_

A gun shot rang out. My heart pounded in my chest. It all happened so fast. I saw Emmett pounce on Rosalie and cover her with his body. I didn't have time to react much at all. My body only seemed to flinch at the noise. Jasper finally got to pull Alice back into him.

Looking around I saw no signs of blood. I decided it would be best to turn back to the woman.

Lowering the gun that she had facing toward the night sky, she loudly sighed. Her stance became less rigid…only in the slightest though. "Sorry about that, didn't really feel like catching up on the latest 90210 episode." She motioned to Emmett and Rosalie. "Guess I'll just have to find out later if they make up and get back together." She ended it with a sarcastic tone.

I would have laughed, as crazy as the situation was turning out to be, but first I had to get my heart out of my throat. I somewhat heard Rosalie demand Emmett get off her and complained about clothing or some other insignificant thing.

I could only stare at the woman like the enigma that she was and wonder what was going through the crazy mind of hers. One second we were in a stare down having answers being demanded, next she was making quips about retirement communities and TV show dramas. I didn't know how to respond…I _always _knew how to respond. I concluded that it must be the gun, I just couldn't think straight with a gun in my face. What normal person could?

She sighed again, almost completely lowering her gun. She seemed defeated. "Where do you say you were heading again?"

"Ridgefield Mountains. We rented a cabin at the base of it. It was supposed to be one of five available cabins. In walking distance from the slopes," Alice stated. Her voice was less afraid than I thought it would be, but then again, she was crazy little thing.

The woman scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You are nowhere near there."

Rosalie huffed in annoyance and I heard a loud smack again. "Emmett, I _knew_ we were going in the wrong direction! But did you listen? No! You didn't."

He let a small growl of annoyance. "Really Rosie, is this the _best _time to bring this up?"

"Yes, I think it may be the _best _time to bring this up. Seeing how I may get shot by some crazed, gun wielding mountain woman, all because you got us lost!

Emmett narrowed his eyes and turned back to face the cabin. Thankfully, he just gave up arguing. I wondered if he _finally _learned his lesson. _Probably not…_

The woman finally lowered her gun the entire way. She slowly turned around and walked back through the cabin door. _Was that it? What is going on with this woman? That's it…I'm adding to my 'Must Avoid' list… vacations and women…and by 'adding,' I mean I'm going to start one. _

_Why do I feel like the list is going to get even longer before I safely get home?_

We stood outside, giving question looks to each other, wondering what we should do.

"Are you coming in or not?" I heard the woman yell from inside. Alice was the first one to respond. She shrugged her shoulders and went to go inside. Both Jasper and I made a move to stop her. We each grabbed an arm, restricting her movements. Jasper gave her a look that screamed 'what are you doing?'

"Oh, relax Jasper. I don't think she is going to shoot us…she probably would have done it by now. Plus, what else are we going to do?" She nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders, as if we were just talking about something casual.

She was right…as usual, but I would never admit that to her. However, if we were going to go into that cabin, she was not going first. I reluctantly grabbed the bags I dropped from earlier and walked through the door. Jasper was close behind me, followed by Alice, Emmett then Rosalie.

I already felt significantly warmer. _At least there's that…_

The cabin itself wasn't bad at all. Almost as impressive as the cabin we were going to stay at. It was two stories, but the second floor seemed significantly smaller than the first. To our immediate right was the kitchen. On the other side of the kitchen I could see the staircase that lead to the second floor. The only thing that separated the room we were standing in, which I guessed to be the dining room and the kitchen, was a counter.

Further into the house, I could see the living room. A couch faced the fireplace. The fire seemed somewhat dwindled, probably due to our lengthy conversation outside. There were two separate doorways connecting to the living room but I couldn't see into them.

All of a sudden, the woman came walking out of one of the said doorways. She stopped when she noticed us. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave a questioning look. I realized we looked quite foolish, five of us huddled together by the doorway. She dropped her arms and gave an exacerbated sigh.

"I'm not going to shoot you. At least…not unless you give me a reason to," she simply stated. "There are two rooms back there. I don't care who gets what room. I already put plenty of blankets and pillows out."

She walked slowly over and picked up her gun that she left resting against the wall. She held it casually over her shoulder. She turned to head up the stairs.

"Wait!" Alice yelled. "You're letting us stay here?" Alice face formed into a smile.

"Umm, yeah. That was what you were planning on asking me, wasn't it?"

Alice's head excitedly nodded up and down. Jasper, however, did not look too pleased. "That…or to borrow a phone, if you had one." It wasn't lost in his voice how much he preferred the second option. Hell…I couldn't agree more. I didn't want to be on the damn trip anyways and now I was roughing it, shacked up with Calamity Jane.

"Nope. Sorry there Gramps. No phone and my radio doesn't work."

"Maybe I can fix it?" Jasper's head turned in every direction that looking for the apparent radio.

The woman just shook her head from side to side, chuckling. She walked over to the other side of the counter and pulled open a drawer. She pulled out the 'radio' or what I should say, what was left of the radio.

I picked up a piece and eyed it suspiciously. I raised an eyebrow. "It looks like it was shot?" I stated, in a speculative voice.

"Very astute of you, Sparky."

I think my face turned blank and I just stared at her, disbelievingly. _What did she just call me? _Before I could come up with a witty retort or even ask why the damn radio was shot in the first place, she continued to speak.

"I have a friend coming in a few days, whenever the storm passes. You can either wait for him to arrive and he can help you or you can try walking some more." She quickly shrugged her shoulders. "I wouldn't recommend that though. There isn't another cabin even close to here."

_Just great._

"Oh. Two things before I head upstairs and attempt to sleep after this exhausting and very…interesting day. One, my name is Bella. I will not answer to mountain girl or any other rendition of the name that you guys seem to keep coming up with. And two, the most important rule so far, if any of you come upstairs and attempt to come in my room while I sleep…" she leaned forward slightly "…you _will _get shot…no questions asked."

She leaned back away, swiftly turned around and headed upstairs. We just stood facing the staircase, open-mouthed. Jasper was the first to break the silence.

"Well, she seemed….pleasant…"

I snorted and turned to the living room knowing that I would get the couch since the two couples would claim both rooms. Of course Jasper would try and make light of the situation, it was Alice and him that dragged us there.

I spread out on the stiff couch that was…surprise, surprise… too short for my long body. I placed both hands behind my head and just closed my eyes. I wondered, what would a young woman in her late 20's be doing in a cabin by herself, why she seemed so untrusting, and how the next couple of days were going to pan out.

I fell asleep convinced that nothing good would come from us staying there.

* * *

**So...what do you think? Are you wondering the same things Edward is? Hmmm? **

**Don't worry. It won't be all stressful and threats of being shot all the time. Six 20-something year old's in a cabin....how ever will they pass the time...lol  
**


End file.
